Some of you talk like Bielema is for certain going to be fired soon. Why do you believe that?

Looking at the remaining schedule, and considering how Bielema finished the 2015 season, why could he finishing the rest of the way with only two losses? Even if he loses 3 and wins the bowl, are we really going to fire him after an 8 win overall season? Think not.

I think the only way you see him removed is a 4-8 or 3-9 record. When you have an AD trying to promote a brand to fill more expansion in 2018, you have to have a program tied in with that. Plus, after showing the coaching world we gave a guy 5 solid seasons, we wouldn't have coaches feeling gun shy. People simply have no clue what Bielema's academic success means to Long.

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In MY thread here, it's clear that we've benefitted from going to the SEC trough. The facilities are impressive, but don't create success on the field or the court. In the past glory days where coaching dynasties prevailed, you could count on stability..pro or con. Today there aren't many dynasties aside from Bama. We all want that kind of success and recruiting ability. I suggest we have to take a chance on a new dynastic path. Long's legacy will include his monuments and his 'tombstone'. This will be his last tour of duty. Beyond the SEC 'Eldorado', and the top tier name holders, he owes, the loyal fan base that loves Saturdays, a winning product. Long has to walk the gangplank and make tough choices along with his cheese and wine selection.

In MY thread here, it's clear that we've benefitted from going to the SEC trough. The facilities are impressive, but don't create success on the field or the court. In the past glory days where coaching dynasties prevailed, you could count on stability..pro or con. Today there aren't many dynasties aside from Bama. We all want that kind of success and recruiting ability. I suggest we have to take a chance on a new dynastic path. Long's legacy will include his monuments and his 'tombstone'. This will be his last tour of duty. Beyond the SEC 'Eldorado', and the top tier name holders, he owes, the loyal fan base that loves Saturdays, a winning product. Long has to walk the gangplank and make tough choices along with his cheese and wine selection.

The scenario is set up perfectly. The AD has been fired at Louisville and BP's buyout has been cut in half. At the end of the season, if a miracle doesn't happen, it'll be time for Long to swallow his pride and bring Bobby home.

I think the only way you see him removed is a 4-8 or 3-9 record. When you have an AD trying to promote a brand to fill more expansion in 2018, you have to have a program tied in with that. Plus, after showing the coaching world we gave a guy 5 solid seasons, we wouldn't have coaches feeling gun shy. People simply have no clue what Bielema's academic success means to Long.

I would like someone to across the entire athletic department, and try to come up with how Jeff Long is failing. Its just not the case.

Long went out and hired a coach with three Big 10 titles and a history of success. One of the best hires by any AD since 2010 when you consider all the factors.

Long's only fault is that Bielema hasn't closed out some games and has underachieved. Has he been terrible? No. But underachieved on the field....which is really outside of Long's control anyways.

I would like someone to across the entire athletic department, and try to come up with how Jeff Long is failing. Its just not the case.

Long went out and hired a coach with three Big 10 titles and a history of success. One of the best hires by any AD since 2010 when you consider all the factors.

Long's only fault is that Bielema hasn't closed out some games and has underachieved. Has he been terrible? No. But underachieved on the field....which is really outside of Long's control anyways.

Bielema's record in the Big 10 is misleading because it doesn't reflect how far down the Big 10 was during his tenure at Wisconsin. I was fooled by CBB's record at Wisconsin just as you have been and I too gave Jeff Long high marks for hiring him. I realize now how wrong I was.

This is what makes me chuckle in amusement. It's almost as if guys on here think Long himself interviews, hires, and fires coaches as a sole actor. Yeah, sure, the final decision is probably his to make.

But if you don't think there are committees and advisors involved in a coaching search, that's hilarious.

I concur. Afterall, the BP 'oil spill' has been cleaned up and all is well. To err is human, to forgive....well you get the idea!

With the modern day news cycle and sports cycle both changing from day to day, how long do you think that the firing of Bobby Petrino for having a mistress on his paid staff held the attention of the American college football sports fan. Maybe 3 days, but I"ll give you a week. People don't care about such things. We re-elected a President who relieved his sexual tension in the oval office. Point again being, people don't care about what's going on in Arkansas when they live in Georgia or wherever. If we had never fired Petrino, we'd NOT be in the pickle we are now. If memory serves JLS inherited Bobby's players who were ranked #8 beginning the following season after Bobby was sent packing. Now look where the UA football program is, floundering like a fish tossed on the bank. We could hire back Petrino and that would be news for maybe 2 weeks, then, people/the news media/the fans will move on to something else. That's the society in which we live these days.

Bielema's record in the Big 10 is misleading because it doesn't reflect how far down the Big 10 was during his tenure at Wisconsin. I was fooled by CBB's record at Wisconsin just as you have been and I too gave Jeff Long high marks for hiring him. I realize now how wrong I was.

In 2010 he smeared the same Jim Tressel-coached Ohio State team that beat us in the Sugar Bowl. All he can do is beat the teams that were put in front of him. Now, a valid criticism would be that it's obvious in hindsight that Barry Alvarez has a great degree of control over the Wisconsin football program regardless of who the coach is. I'm sure every week Bielema was receiving input from Alvarez and he doesn't have that with Long.

But again, if Long hired someone else and it came out that he passed over Bret Bielema, we all would have been frothing at the mouth. Hindsight is 20/20. Hiring him was a great decision. But here's the thing; good decisions sometimes have bad outcomes. That's a fact of life. I don't fault Jeff Long one bit for hiring Bielema. It was 100% the right decision.

Long must walk the gangplank and make some tough choices....and I'm not talking cheese and wine selections.

Coach Bielema's character is not an issue....the first 3 suggestions are issues!

I do not hold Bret's first season against him. Those including that in his record are doing it solely to push an agenda against him (remember, I started the fire Bret threads so I don't want him here, but he deserves to be judged fairly).

A more fair way to judge Bielema is on a record of 24-19 (10-15 SEC).

That isn't great either, but more fair. He took over a program where Petrino was recruiting blondes harder than he was recruiting high school players his final 2 seasons. He also had a year with JLS as the coach where no recruiting or player development happened, and discipline and leadership was lacking, if not gone.

When you look at Mike Leach at Washington State (who I want here) do you say he is a .500 coach at Washington State because he had two 3-9 seasons his first three years, or do you account for the time it took to build?

. . .But again, if Long hired someone else and it came out that he passed over Bret Bielema, we all would have been frothing at the mouth. Hindsight is 20/20. Hiring him was a great decision. But here's the thing; good decisions sometimes have bad outcomes. That's a fact of life. I don't fault Jeff Long one bit for hiring Bielema. It was 100% the right decision.

Almost all would agree at the time that Bielema was a hired, it was a good hire. And I doubt at that time anyone had heartburn with the large initial buyout. The issue at hand is Long putting the university in a position 5 years later of not being able to correct something that looks to not be working out and dismissing the complaints as saying winning isn't so important. I would love nothing better than CBB to turn this around and be a long term success, raise his kids here, retire here, be the next Broyles, etc. But, if that doesn't happen, then the university should have the option to go another direction without mortgaging its future.

In 2010 he smeared the same Jim Tressel-coached Ohio State team that beat us in the Sugar Bowl. All he can do is beat the teams that were put in front of him. Now, a valid criticism would be that it's obvious in hindsight that Barry Alvarez has a great degree of control over the Wisconsin football program regardless of who the coach is. I'm sure every week Bielema was receiving input from Alvarez and he doesn't have that with Long.

But again, if Long hired someone else and it came out that he passed over Bret Bielema, we all would have been frothing at the mouth. Hindsight is 20/20. Hiring him was a great decision. But here's the thing; good decisions sometimes have bad outcomes. That's a fact of life. I don't fault Jeff Long one bit for hiring Bielema. It was 100% the right decision.

In all of Bret's years at Wisconsin, that win over Tressel's Buckeyes was the only win he had over Ohio State and Bret's Rose Bowl record was poor. At the time I though he was a good hire for Long but I now realize that I was wrong.

At Wisconsin, Bret was pretty well forced to run Alverez's scheme and was limited on how much he could play his assistants, yet he still did well although the Big 10 was down. I really thought that if he went to a good D1 University where he could run his own system and have the money to hire the assistants he wanted, he could be a great coach. I was wrong about that too.

Even though the Hogs have lost to both TCU and A&M, I have not been one of those that are chanting "Fire Bret!". I'm willing to give him the rest of the season to turn things around before I decide whether or not to hop on that bandwagon.

Almost all would agree at the time that Bielema was a hired, it was a good hire. And I doubt at that time anyone had heartburn with the large initial buyout. The issue at hand is Long putting the university in a position 5 years later of not being able to correct something that looks to not be working out and dismissing the complaints as saying winning isn't so important. I would love nothing better than CBB to turn this around and be a long term success, raise his kids here, retire here, be the next Broyles, etc. But, if that doesn't happen, then the university should have the option to go another direction without mortgaging its future.

I thought the hire was a positive, a much more established coach than I was anticipating. I thought the buyout was a bad move from the start, far too much of a commitment coming off just a 7-6 season and too one-sided in his favor. Don't recall specifically and don't care to dredge it up, but I seem to remember I was far from alone in that thinking here. Hopefully it still works out, we'll see.

I would like someone to across the entire athletic department, and try to come up with how Jeff Long is failing. Its just not the case.

They can't show it because, much to their chagrin, Long is doing a GREAT job as AD. Too many people that are supposedly fans of the University are really only football fans, and they could not care less about the overall athletic dept. They either can;t understand, or will not accept that his job is NOT to win football games, his job is to run the athletic dept, and he has done that job very well.

They can't show it because, much to their chagrin, Long is doing a GREAT job as AD. Too many people that are supposedly fans of the University are really only football fans, and they could not care less about the overall athletic dept. They either can;t understand, or will not accept that his job is NOT to win football games, his job is to run the athletic dept, and he has done that job very well.

One of the main jobs of the AD is to hire coaches that WIN and Long has failed in that department.

One of the main jobs of the AD is to hire coaches that WIN and Long has failed in that department.

This is a load of bull. Compare Arkansas to LSU (or even Nebraska), which AD made a good hire and which one made a bad hire?

Jeff Long's job is to go out and hire the best possible coaching candidate we can get. Petrino? Yes. Bielema? Yes. Remember, we don't know who all told Jeff Long "no", so considering Bielemas record and that we are Arkansas, home run hire at the time.

Mike Anderson took some time to get going, but even I (one of his harshest critics) admit he now has everything on the right track and winning is back in BWA.

He made a mistake with Jimmy Dykes (his Pelphrey hire), but corrected it quickly and got a women's coach with a Final 4 and Sweet 16 in his last two seasons.

Look at the health of other sports like gymnastics, soccer, golf, etc....all strong across the board with good academics and no bad scandals.

This is a load of bull. Compare Arkansas to LSU (or even Nebraska), which AD made a good hire and which one made a bad hire?

Jeff Long's job is to go out and hire the best possible coaching candidate we can get. Petrino? Yes. Bielema? Yes. Remember, we don't know who all told Jeff Long "no", so considering Bielemas record and that we are Arkansas, home run hire at the time.

Mike Anderson took some time to get going, but even I (one of his harshest critics) admit he now has everything on the right track and winning is back in BWA.

He made a mistake with Jimmy Dykes (his Pelphrey hire), but corrected it quickly and got a women's coach with a Final 4 and Sweet 16 in his last two seasons.

Look at the health of other sports like gymnastics, soccer, golf, etc....all strong across the board with good academics and no bad scandals.

That is not a load of bull, it is absolutely correct. One of the AD's main jobs is to hire coaches that win.

Long didn't want Petrino and had to be pressured into hiring him.

Long was force fed Mike Anderson like a baby in a high chair so he gets not credit for that hiring.

That is not a load of bull, it is absolutely correct. One of the AD's main jobs is to hire coaches that win.

Long didn't want Petrino and had to be pressured into hiring him.

Long was force fed Mike Anderson like a baby in a high chair so he gets not credit for that hiring.

His hiring of Bielema doesn't look so good either.

ADs get fired for making bad hires AT THE TIME (see LSU and Nebraska) and then those hires don't pan out. If the hire is seen as good at the time and the coach doesn't pan out, that isn't on the AD. Can't predict that (even tho many arm-chair ADs will try).

And quit it with the bogus stories about Jeff Long being forced to hire people. That is ridiculous. You have no evidence it is true, just rumors and conjecture.

You hate him and want to give him no credit for the good he does, and all the blame for things that don't turn out. There is fair criticism for the Jimmy Dykes hire, but that's it. Every other hire has been fantastic at the time.

ADs get fired for making bad hires AT THE TIME (see LSU and Nebraska) and then those hires don't pan out. If the hire is seen as good at the time and the coach doesn't pan out, that isn't on the AD. Can't predict that (even tho many arm-chair ADs will try).

And quit it with the bogus stories about Jeff Long being forced to hire people. That is ridiculous. You have no evidence it is true, just rumors and conjecture.

You hate him and want to give him no credit for the good he does, and all the blame for things that don't turn out. There is fair criticism for the Jimmy Dykes hire, but that's it. Every other hire has been fantastic at the time.

No I don't hate him, I just don't believe he's a good AD and needs to be terminated.

What I said about him being forced is true but you go ahead and keep wearing those blinders.

What he did to Dykes was a dirty deal. Unless there are off of the court issues, a head coach shouldn't be fired after only 3 years on the job.

By the way, I have given Long credit for being good at raising money. However, there's a lot more to being an AD than that.

Long offered the football HC job to both Tommy Bowden and Grobe while totally ignoring Petrino's pleas to be granted an interview for the job (I still remember many fans were outraged that Bowden and Grobe were offered the job while Long was ignoring Petrino). After Bowden and Grobe didn't work out Long under heavy pressure to do so, granted Bobby an interview and hired him.

When Long terminated John Pelphrey, he announced that there would be a thorough nationwide coaching search. That never happened. Several prominent HC's tried to throw their names into the hat but were never considered. The only coach to be interviewed and offered the job was Mike Anderson which occurred after Long had stated TWICE that Mike Anderson was not on his list of prospects.

That is not a load of bull, it is absolutely correct. One of the AD's main jobs is to hire coaches that win.

Long didn't want Petrino and had to be pressured into hiring him.

Long was force fed Mike Anderson like a baby in a high chair so he gets not credit for that hiring.

His hiring of Bielema doesn't look so good either.

The AD's job is to hire the coach with the best resume he can during the year when we have a coaching vacancy. I don't understand why you're mad at Long if you yourself said you were wrong. You can't say it was a good hire in 2013 but now that it's 2017 it was a bad hire. It was either a good hire or a bad hire, it can't be both, and the hire is judged at the time. Bielema was objectively a good hire. No other coach in 2013 had the resume as a head coach that he did, regardless of whether or not you think it was a good resume or not.

Again, unless you get a Nick Saban-type legend or you hire a Lane Kiffin-type disaster, hiring coaches is a crapshoot. There's no rhyme or reason as to why certain coaches succeed at a certain place and some don't. You just hire the best coach you can and hope for the best, especially at a joint like Arkansas where there are a number of inherent disadvantages. Long made the best hiring decision in 2013 that he possibly could have made. If it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out, and the responsibility for it not working out is on Bielema, not Long.

I'm starting to get the idea some people believe the likes of women's gymnastics or the dive team hold the same weight as the football program.

Is that really where we are at?

That is not what anyone has said. What is being said is the ATHLETIC DEPT consists of close to 2 dozen teams in various sports. The job of the AD is to make sure the ENTIRE DEPT is running well, is well funded and is not afoul of the NCAA. Long has done a great job at that. He hired a football coach in late 2012 that had a excellent resume and everyone in the college football world was shocked that he left Wisconsin for anywhere, much less Arkansas, fresh off a 4-8 season. Just because a hire does not work out does mean it was a bad hire when it was made.

The point is most of the increase in revenue came during 2010 and 2011 and has pretty well leveled off sense then so the success on the field by the football team in those 2 years was responsible for most of the increase, not Jeff Long.

I'd also like to point out that in this thread there are multiple posts indicating Jeff long is responsible for bringing wins to the program, specifically the football program, so if as you assert that the contributions were bolstered by the success of the football program, then as the AD Jeff long is responsible for that correct? or if not , then he is not responsible for the lack of wins now. Or is he responsible when we lose, but when we win it is due to circumstances beyond his control? Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts. If you don't like the Brett Bielema hire, OK that's your opinion and I would say that currently you could back that up with his abysmal record. Since he's still the coach then we don't know how its going to turn out eventually, right now it doesn't look so good. My only point was that if you look objectively at the job that Long has done, and if you agree that bringing funds into the athletic department is one of his primary duties then he has done a good job.

The scenario is set up perfectly. The AD has been fired at Louisville and BP's buyout has been cut in half. At the end of the season, if a miracle doesn't happen, it'll be time for Long to swallow his pride and bring Bobby home.

Long offered the football HC job to both Tommy Bowden and Grobe while totally ignoring Petrino's pleas to be granted an interview for the job (I still remember many fans were outraged that Bowden and Grobe were offered the job while Long was ignoring Petrino). After Bowden and Grobe didn't work out Long under heavy pressure to do so, granted Bobby an interview and hired him.

When Long terminated John Pelphrey, he announced that there would be a thorough nationwide coaching search. That never happened. Several prominent HC's tried to throw their names into the hat but were never considered. The only coach to be interviewed and offered the job was Mike Anderson which occurred after Long had stated TWICE that Mike Anderson was not on his list of prospects.

This is a load of bull. Compare Arkansas to LSU (or even Nebraska), which AD made a good hire and which one made a bad hire?

Jeff Long's job is to go out and hire the best possible coaching candidate we can get. Petrino? Yes. Bielema? Yes. Remember, we don't know who all told Jeff Long "no", so considering Bielemas record and that we are Arkansas, home run hire at the time.

Mike Anderson took some time to get going, but even I (one of his harshest critics) admit he now has everything on the right track and winning is back in BWA.

He made a mistake with Jimmy Dykes (his Pelphrey hire), but corrected it quickly and got a women's coach with a Final 4 and Sweet 16 in his last two seasons.

Look at the health of other sports like gymnastics, soccer, golf, etc....all strong across the board with good academics and no bad scandals.

Come on, selling the UA basketball program to Mike Anderson would be like giving a hungry dog a bone-in ribeye

The Athletic Department as a whole is in good shape.....Long has done a nice job.

fiscally yes, we are in good shape, but when your teams play in the SEC, the checks are rather large when they divvy up the cash at the Spring Meeting of the AD's...basically we are a suckling little porker attached to one of Momma SEC's best teats....all we do is take, we don't contribute, especially this year because the football team sux...the only money maker this year will be the basketball team, they are going to be salty dogs, errgh, salty hogs

That is not what anyone has said. What is being said is the ATHLETIC DEPT consists of close to 2 dozen teams in various sports. The job of the AD is to make sure the ENTIRE DEPT is running well, is well funded and is not afoul of the NCAA. Long has done a great job at that. He hired a football coach in late 2012 that had a excellent resume and everyone in the college football world was shocked that he left Wisconsin for anywhere, much less Arkansas, fresh off a 4-8 season. Just because a hire does not work out does mean it was a bad hire when it was made.

I was never extremely impressed with the hire but I'm probably in the minority there. That was a time when I considered the Big 10 a weak conference.

Regardless of all that...to your first few sentences regarding the topic at hand, "running well" "well funded" "not afoul with the NCAA"...

What % of ADs in the college world...Power 5 conferences, don't do these exact very things? Other than firing Bobby Petrino and making himself famous for such, what sets Jeff Long as so much better than all these other ADs?

He is considered by Hog fan homers and of course those all across the football world who are now happy to see the Hog football program "back where it's supposed to be"' as one of the top ADs in the country. I wonder if he has that AD of the year plaque on the wall in his office?...lol I'm sure it's all very bureaucratic and sophisticated. So what makes him so much better than all these other ADs who run their programs "well funded" or "not afoul with the NCAA?"

I'm going to be open minded for a minute on this for you to convince me what makes this man so awesome in comparison to others all across the country.

Forget new monuments, expansions, or platitudes. Long's singular legacy will be having fired Arkansas' best coach. After castigating him and exiling him to the wilderness, he was reincarnated at Louisville with Heisman quality gladiators who want to compete. As for mistakes, who will cast the first 100 stones? AD Long is not one of us! If it's about going to the trough for our SEC share, then gorge on and proceed to the vomitorium. However, mediocrity would be better served reviving the SWC and being the lone outsider for recruits. Bielema's 'have a nice day' attitude is contagious...just look at our players..and the fans streaming out in the 3rd quarter. There's more excitement in the tailgating area! Thank you Jeff!

You forgot to mention that he was also the one that hired that Arkansas coach, and had heaped praise on him until he, and the entire state was lied to. You can'tthrow stones at someone for firing someone, and not throw flowers at them for hiring them.

You forgot to mention that he was also the one that hired that Arkansas coach, and had heaped praise on him until he, and the entire state was lied to. You can'tthrow stones at someone for firing someone, and not throw flowers at them for hiring them.

Dont you know, Long was forced to hire BP, yet the same people that forced Long to hire him could not force him to not fire him.

That is not a load of bull, it is absolutely correct. One of the AD's main jobs is to hire coaches that win.

Long didn't want Petrino and had to be pressured into hiring him.

Long was force fed Mike Anderson like a baby in a high chair so he gets not credit for that hiring.

His hiring of Bielema doesn't look so good either.

He made the hires! He gets the credit and he gets the blame! Can't have it both ways! At the time of the hires, the 2 best hires in Razorback football history based on who we got and what their records were at the time!

fiscally yes, we are in good shape, but when your teams play in the SEC, the checks are rather large when they divvy up the cash at the Spring Meeting of the AD's...basically we are a suckling little porker attached to one of Momma SEC's best teats....all we do is take, we don't contribute, especially this year because the football team sux...the only money maker this year will be the basketball team, they are going to be salty dogs, errgh, salty hogs

We're one of the most well rounded athletic departments in the SEC. How many other SEC teams made the postseason in all 3 main sports last year?

I guess some would rather be like Auburn or Georgia and be good at football but suck at everything else. I would like to be better at football but we're doing well overall.

Bielema's record in the Big 10 is misleading because it doesn't reflect how far down the Big 10 was during his tenure at Wisconsin. I was fooled by CBB's record at Wisconsin just as you have been and I too gave Jeff Long high marks for hiring him. I realize now how wrong I was.

News to me. Who exactly "forced" him to hire Bobby Petrino, when he was coach at the Atlanta Falcons? From my understanding, Petrino was the one that contacted Long to begin with.

obviously your sarcasm detector is off. The narrative from Gov and the other Long haters is that BP was forced on Long, yet they cant explain how the same guys who forced the hire could not force him to keep him.

My theory has always been that Long, about to hire all he could find in Grobe because no one else wanted the job, was contacted by BP's people that he was interested as he was looking for any ship out of ATL. Long had to persuade the BOT to hire a risky guy like BP. Many on the BOT never liked BP, but were ok with him because it covered up the fact that no one of import really wanted the job. However, the BOT was not going to put up with any of his shenanigans, and at the 1st chance they had they got ride of him. Long, having gone out on a limb in recommending they hire BP was in no mood to fight for him after BP sawed the limb off behind them both.